A good real estate agent will know how to price your home correctly. If you’re selling your home yourself, you’ll have to understand how vital setting the right price is from the beginning.
Sometimes homeowners have the mindset that they’ll set the price of the home higher than what the market value is so that they’ll have some bargaining room. That’s a very poor strategy because you’ll be creating a situation where you’re listing your home for more than it might be worth.
Potential buyers are looking for a deal. They don’t want to make an offer on a $400,000 home that’s only worth $375,000. Most buyers will move on without even looking at your home.
What you have to understand about how to price your home is that setting a certain price can determine the length of time your home will be on the market before it sells.
Any home that stays on the market for a long time can raise red flags with buyers. It can also lead to a situation where the longer your home is on the market, the more you’ll end up being forced to lower the price to an amount you’re reluctant to set it at.
You need to know the actual market value of your home.
You see, a three bedroom home in a popular golf course neighborhood will sell at a different price than a comparable three bedroom home in a downtown city neighborhood.
A homeowner may want to raise the price of the home beyond what it’s worth because they did some remodeling. You’ll have to be careful here, because while some upgrades can boost the home value, not all of them do.
In my book “Top Dollar Secrets” I share exactly what upgrades will pay off with a good ROI. You can check out the book by clicking here.
An agent will know how to set the true market value with or without upgrades. Certain features have to be figured in when you’re considering how to price your home.
Along with the square footage, things like the number of bedrooms and the number of bathrooms your home has make a difference. While it might be tempting to think that you’re going to set a top tier price for your home, you have to be realistic.
This is an area that many homeowners fail at, but real estate agents excel at. Just because you think the home is perfect and has high potential to command more doesn’t mean it’s true.
One helpful thing that you can do to help you price your home to sell quickly at an amount that’s fair for you is to look at what the home sold for originally. If the home has changed owners a couple of times over the years, look for the amount that it sold for last time.
You can find this information online using housing marketing tools. Look at the price that the home was listed for, then see how much time it was between when it was listed and when it actually sold. This will help you see what a possible fair price could be that would move the home quickly off the market.
One thing you want to stay away from is Zillow’s “zestimate”.
I can’t count how many homeowners I’ve consulted with who told me “well, Zillow says my house is worth $xxx,xxx”
Although, Zillow can SOMETIMES be close, they are more often way off on both ends of the spectrum.
There have been times when Zillow says the house is worth waaaaay more than it is. And times when Zillow says the house worth far less than the actual value.
To get the true value of your home, it’s best to talk with a real human being who’s an expert in your market.
If you’re thinking about selling your home in the Kokomo area, I’d love to give you a free market analysis of your home’s value!
Give me a call or text me anytime at 765.438.7952
